Startup Blokable stacks up alternatives to high housing costs

Blokable’s aim is to create more affordable housing by manufacturing move-in-ready units as an alternative to customized homes.

By

Seattle Times staff reporter

With rising home prices breaking records throughout the Puget Sound area, affordable housing can be hard to come by, and building a new home can be a long and complicated process.

Blokable hopes to help ease those housing problems with affordable, stackable smart homes.

Aaron Holm founded Blokable in 2016 with the aim of creating more affordable housing by manufacturing move-in-ready units. Blokable’s business development, design and technology teams are in Seattle, and its manufacturing and product teams are in Vancouver, Washington.

Blokable makes structures it calls “Bloks” to be used in infill developments or those in vacant or underused urban locations. The products are designed to be “plug-and-play buildings,” outfitted with electrical and plumbing systems as well as appliances and fixtures.